Wednesday, November 28, 2012

You might think it weird
that one of the finer chefs in Paris is an American...even though we don't think it's weird that some of the finest chefs in
America have foreign backgrounds as well.

Which brings me to the restaurant Spring. Spring has been ensconced in its fancy 1st Arrondisement address,
just off the rue St. Honore, for a couple of years; before that, it was in
the less fancy 9th, and that’s where Significant Eater and I first tasted Chef Daniel Rose’s food. Back then, it was an inexpensive 3-course lunch, fairly
simple, yet delicious; but you also knew that beneath that simplicity lurked
the mind of a chef who knew how to both honor the ingredients he was blessed to
work with, and to celebrate them as well.

Neither of us will forget the
soup we had back then - thinly sliced raw scallops, nestled in the bottom of a soup bowl with a brunoise of seasonal vegetables, all of it just cooked by the heat
of the broth that was then poured over tableside.

Fast forward four years, and
we won’t forget the soup we had at lunch last week; a number of
country-cut vegetables and a dice of fine ham, warmed by the steaming onion
“nage” poured over tableside. This
was no ordinary “nage,” but more like what a perfect French onion soup tastes
like, yet the clearest consomme with the deepest flavor imaginable…wow. It
didn’t hurt that the garnish included charred baby leek leaves, as it appears
Daniel really likes to work with all the different of the onion family, to fine
effect...

And then, because chef likes to play with his food, he brought us over the salad course – soup and salad, you see. Only
he served this salad of frisee in a bowl made of the most perfectly fried, whole
boned fish (merlan) we’d ever tasted. You
can see the “brains” of the fish, but they’re just a grapefruit gelee.
The out-of-this-world tartar sauce was hiding under the salad, and Sig Eater
and I devoured every bit...

Oh, I forgot - the soup came after the amuse course, simply 4 small plates of goodies. I don't take notes (radishes with blowfish, butter from Normandy, smoked eel with pickled red onions, apples and creme fraiche and mushrooms with wheat kernels), but...

After the amuse, soup and salad, the main course was perfectly cooked pigeon, served with (iirc) celeriac puree topped with crushed coffee (strangely, it worked), a roasted pear and pigeon jus...

Not fully sated, we had our choice: cheese or go straight to dessert? Of course we chose cheese - 4 superb samples from the giant display. Because what better way to prepare for sweets? For dessert, we enjoyed a fine Greek yogurt sorbet (that's a yogurt skin crisp on top), truffles, and more...

An American in Paris? You bet. And when his food is as delicious as this, Paris is lucky. Go - if you get lucky, Daniel will be playing with his food.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Five years is a long time in the restaurant business. As a matter of fact, it's a long time for any small business, and once you get to that point, it means you must be doing something right. Or maybe, just maybe, you're doing everything right.

And that's just what my favorite place does - everything right. From the warm welcome (whether you're a regular or not), to the tasty food, to the nicely curated wine and beer list (oh, and they make a damn good Manhattan too), to the reasonable prices - Cafe Katja makes me happy...

Just over five years ago, I wrote about Katja on eGullet, after Significant Eater and I tried it for the first time. And over these past five years, and countless meals with Sig Eater, friends and solo, it has never failed to be just what you want from your favorite "local." You want a pretzel (with two spreads) and a beer - Katja...

How about a krainer, kraut and a glass of Grüner Veltliner? Katja...

Maybe beef goulash over spätzle? You guessed it - Katja - and even though I don't have a pic, and they spell it gulasch - here's a recipe from an article about Katja that Bon Appetit ran a few years ago...new Austrian, they called it then.

Recently, there's been a big change at Katja. The owners, former chefs Andrew Chase and Erwin Schröttner, had been looking to expand for a while (I mean, if I saw the word tiny in one more review, I was gonna scream), and when the place right next door became available, they jumped on it. So now, after a summer of renovations and turning slightly greyer (well, Erwin was already there) due to the usual problems you run into when you start knocking down walls in 120-year old buildings, and trying to get the gas hooked up by a striking Con Ed, they're up and running on all cylinders. The kitchen, which is probably triple the size of what it used to be, and now has gas burners, was buzzing the other night, Chef James working it as he always has.

An expanded kitchen means an expanded menu, and we started dinner last night with a couple of old standbys. When you start with the pretzel I mentioned above, be careful - otherwise you'll burn your mouth. But the aufschnitt teller, a platter of smoked and cured meats, liverwurst, liptauer, pickles and rye bread, will merely make your mouth water...

My friends shared an assorted sausage sampler (I guess they hadn't had enough sodium yet), which at $15 per person is enough to feed a small army. Me - I'm watching my waist, so I dove into the evening's special - seared blackfish over fermented and sauteed red cabbage, that was perfectly cooked and delicious to boot...

There are classic desserts on the menu, like linzer torte, and lots of schlag to go 'round. And the list of Schnapps is as deep as any in the city. The other night we finished with a couple of Underbergs - because we may indeed be nuts.

Keep it coming, Katja. After a delicious five years, we wish you good luck on the next 10 - for sure, you'll be seeing plenty of us.